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A review by jesshale
Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey
3.0
An entertaining read with slight pacing problems.
I enjoy the books in the Elemental Masters series, fairytale retellings with elemental magic. This is a Cinderella story set during WWI.
I enjoyed the main characters and the potential for their romance. Both Ella and Reggie have problems and it's satisfying to see them overcome them. I thought there wasn't much development of their connection, though.
The villains were, in typical Lackey fashion, truly villainous. As with other books I could have done with slightly fewer pages devoted to the antagonist's slimy, gloating POV - it gets a bit repetitive. Yes, we get it - she's evil!
The main weakness in this book is the pacing - when Ella finds out about her magic we don't get a lot of the joy of her finding out about it, it's mainly in a conversation that happens "off screen". There's a slow bit in the middle of the book as Ella learns about magic with convoluted tarot symbolism. It wallows a bit: what Ella learns doesn't really affect the climax of the book, and as the Elemental Masters series can be read as largely standalone novels it's not laying foundations for future books in the series.
In addition, as a Cinderella story we know how the story is going to end - there will be a ball etc. After the long middle section, the ending comes quite quickly, and is sadly devoid of a satisfying confrontation between Ella and her evil stepmother. I liked the way Ella and Reggie work together (although I would have liked more of a conversation about their mutual magic etc. - I don't know if he ever understands what she's been going through), but their defeat of evil Allison was very quick. I wanted Ella to have a better victory!
I enjoy the books in the Elemental Masters series, fairytale retellings with elemental magic. This is a Cinderella story set during WWI.
I enjoyed the main characters and the potential for their romance. Both Ella and Reggie have problems and it's satisfying to see them overcome them. I thought there wasn't much development of their connection, though.
The villains were, in typical Lackey fashion, truly villainous. As with other books I could have done with slightly fewer pages devoted to the antagonist's slimy, gloating POV - it gets a bit repetitive. Yes, we get it - she's evil!
The main weakness in this book is the pacing - when Ella finds out about her magic we don't get a lot of the joy of her finding out about it, it's mainly in a conversation that happens "off screen". There's a slow bit in the middle of the book as Ella learns about magic with convoluted tarot symbolism. It wallows a bit: what Ella learns doesn't really affect the climax of the book, and as the Elemental Masters series can be read as largely standalone novels it's not laying foundations for future books in the series.
In addition, as a Cinderella story we know how the story is going to end - there will be a ball etc. After the long middle section, the ending comes quite quickly, and is sadly devoid of a satisfying confrontation between Ella and her evil stepmother. I liked the way Ella and Reggie work together (although I would have liked more of a conversation about their mutual magic etc. - I don't know if he ever understands what she's been going through), but their defeat of evil Allison was very quick. I wanted Ella to have a better victory!